Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Step Seven:
Here's a workaround background trick
that lets you put a photo inside your back-
ground (complete with a shadow): instead
of using a graphic as a background image,
use it as an Identity Plate. That way, you can
have the background image appear in front
of (or over) your photo rather than behind
it. Here's a slide mount image I bought
from iStockphoto. I took it into Photoshop,
selected the slide and put it on its own
layer, then selected the box in the center,
and deleted it (to make the slide opening
see-through). Next, I added a drop shadow
in the opening, deleted the Background
layer, and saved the file as a PNG to main-
tain its transparency when I bring it into
Lightroom as a graphical Identity Plate. To
bring it in, go to the Overlays panel, turn
on the Identity Plate checkbox, click on the
triangle at the bottom right of the Identity
Plate preview, and chose
Edit
from the
pop-up menu. When the Identity Plate
Editor appears (shown here), click on the
Use a Graphical Identity Plate radio button,
then click on Locate File to find your slide
file, and click OK. Once it appears in the
Preview area, resize both the Identity Plate
(by dragging the corner points) and the
image (by dragging the margin guides). Also,
be sure to have the Zoom to Fill Frame
checkbox turned on in the Options panel.
BONUS VIDEO:
I did a bonus video for you, to show you
step by step how to create Identity Plate
graphics with transparency like you see
here. You'll find it at
http://kelbytraining
Step Eight:
Here's another variation using a picture
frame I bought from iStockphoto. The only
difference is that I changed the Background
Color (in the Backdrop panel) from gray to
white. Now that you're seeing the potential
of these backgrounds and Identity Plates,
let's put the two together for some really
creative layouts.
Continued
